a day in mumbai with less than 100 rupees

i don't know about you, but there have been many occasions when i have found myself in situations with less than 100 rupees (a little less than 3 dollars given the rate at which the rupee is strengthening) in my wallet!

in the reckless days of my youth this could be attributed to my pecuniary condition. but in the recent past it was only because of the fact that i was caught unawares (my wife would be more precise and call it 'carelessness').

but i am sure it is possible to survive a day in any city, like in mumbai, with only small change in your pocket. it is quite a novel experience actually and i would strongly recommend this adventure to most of you who haven't tried anything like this in the recent past.

here's what you could do with to 100 rupees and still survive in mumbai -

1. have bun-maska and chai (bread, butter and tea) for breakfast at any irani restaurant - Rs. 10

2. bus ride to office - Rs. 5



3. thali at local udipi restaurant - Rs. 35


4. cutting chai - Rs. 3

5. sandwich or bhel at roadside stall - Rs. 10



6. auto rickshaw ride to train station - Rs. 15

7. train ticket (second class) - Rs. 5

8. auto ride home - Rs. 20

i know, i know... it adds up to more than 100. i happened to have some loose change in my wallet!

but the point i am making is that many of us lead a protected life-style where we never manage to experience the other side of the city. and the majority of the people are on the other side. over time we get too far detached from the sweatier side of our daily lives. and we also protect our kids from this 'other side'.

i think it is a good idea to occasionally expose them to the other side so that they can appreciate whatever they take for granted in their lives. take them out by public transport (bus, train, auto, etc.), let them play in a public park, let them visit the local vegetable market, eat out in a small udupi restaurant, and all that.

apart from teaching them valuable lessons in life, it can be a fun-filled, memorable adventure for the entire family.

try it out!

an action-packed, adventurous life!

my wife blames me of corrupting her after marriage!

she claims that she was a far more organised person who planned well in advance and never waited until the last moment to start working on things. i think she's lead a very colorless, uneventful life until she got married to me :-)

what she means is that she (which includes her family) would usually land up at the train/ bus terminal or airport at least an hour before the actual departure time. and then they would wait patiently until the train/bus/aircraft rolled into the terminal and then they would have enough time to settle down in their allotted seats and make some polite conversation with the co-passengers.

my life has been far more action-packed than that. i've lost count of the number of trains, buses and flights that i've missed. i've boarded the wrong train more than once.

its not been so bad after marriage (i guess its my wife's influence!) but we've still had our fair share of near-misses. there was a time when we wanted to return to chennai from tirupati and we literally jumped on to a moving train. (i decided to buy the tickets just as we saw the train moving into the station.)

and then there was the near-miss when another family and we were trying to get to delhi after attending vivek's wedding in lucknow! (read vivek's blog at http://dil-vil.blogspot.com/) we abandoned the taxi in the middle of a traffic jam and moved our luggage onto a cycle-rickshaw (click here to know what a cycle rickshaw looks like http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/asia/images/chandnichowk07.jpg). the ladies and kids managed to walk to the station much faster while my friend and i were battling through the crowds outside lucknow station and managing to dump all our luggage into the train just as it started leaving the station!

but the closest miss was during my recent trip to dubai. my flight was at 5.40 am from mumbai and i decided to reach the airport the previous night itself so that i could catch some sleep at the airport itself instead of having to wake up at an unearthly hour at home! i reached the check-in counter just at it opened at about 2 am only to be told that my passport was not valid. that's when i realised that i was carrying my old cancelled passport.

my wife started frantically searching through all the usual places at home with no luck. i decided to get back home and called up a colleague and anita (our finance & admin head and one of the most resourceful people i've ever come across). they both rushed to office, woke up the security and managed to find my new passport in my office drawer. i promptly left home once again and reached the airport at the same time as my office colleagues.

and i managed to get to dubai on the flight i was supposed to be on!

now imagine if i were as well organised as my wife, i would have missed out on all such adventures! (she must be shaking her head in exasperation while reading this :-) )

i am sure i am not the lone adventurer. some of you must have more interesting stories to share! i'd love to hear them!